South Florida Bulls Basketball

USF head men's basketball coach Amir Abdur-Rahim died on Thursday after suffering complications during a medical procedure, the school announced.

He was 43.

We are heartbroken over the passing of Coach Abdur-Rahim.

A tremendous man & leader with an infectious personality that was a shining light to all he encountered.

Our thoughts & prayers are with his family, friends and everyone that he left a lasting impact on. pic.twitter.com/h353f3FNno

— USF Men's Basketball (@USFMBB) October 24, 2024

"All of us with South Florida Athletics are grieving with the loved ones of Coach Abdur-Rahim," vice president for athletics, Michael Kelly, said in a statement. "He was authentic, driven, and his infectious personality captivated all of Bulls Nation. Coach Abdur-Rahim leaves a lasting impact on our student-athletes, the University, and the community. We are supporting those closest to him, including his family, team, and athletics staff, to ensure they have the resources they need to deal with this tremendous loss."

Abdur-Rahim was hired by USF ahead of the 2023–24 season and led the Bulls to a 25-8 record, an American Athletic Conference regular season title and a berth in the NIT. Prior to coaching for USF, he spent four seasons as the head coach at Kennesaw State, turning a team that went 1-28 in his first season to a 26-9 team in his final year, which included a berth in the NCAA tournament.

Before his arrival, the USF men's basketball team had just one winning season (2018-19) in the previous 11 years.

Just tragic news.

Amir Abdur-Rahim was a great basketball coach and a tremendous human being.

Prayers to his family.

Every day is indeed a gift.

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 https://t.co/g1RwqhXKos

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) October 24, 2024

I’m just, lost, idk what else to say

RIP @sunsetAMIR 🙏

Praying for his family and everyone at USF

Coach was a bright spot in this world, but specifically Tampa Bay

Wrecked by this unexpected news

— 𝗭𝗮𝗰 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗻𝗲𝗿🎙 (@ZacOnTheMic) October 24, 2024

There are no words to describe what we are all feeling in hearing the news of the passing of @USFMBB Amir Abdur Rahim after a historic season. Prayers to his wife and kids. Absolutely Heartbreaking!

— Mike Cairns (@MikeCairns5) October 24, 2024

I am sick to my stomach over the passing of Amir Abdur-Rahim. After the game at USF last year, last thing I saw as we walked out was him with his wife and youngest daughter, holding her hand into the tunnel. Just inconceivable. Tragic. There's no "plan" to something like this.

— Ken LaVicka (@KLVsays) October 24, 2024

Tragic news. Amir Abdur-Rahim was one of the brightest young coaches in all college basketball. He led Kennesaw State to the NCAA Tournament two years ago and went 25-8 and won the AAC regular season title last year. So sad. https://t.co/cmJMQrpcF6

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) October 24, 2024

Amir Abdur-Rahim was one of the brightest young coaches in basketball. Just 43. Orchestrated remarkable turnarounds at Kennesaw State and South Florida, helped sign Anthony Edwards at Georgia. Made an impact on so many people. Great person, husband, father.

Heartbreaking news.

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) October 24, 2024

As many people remember, Abdur-Rahim led Kennesaw State to the NCAA tournament two years ago. I didn’t know him well but talked to him a few times. This is so stunning and tragic. Such a bright young coaching talent and a good guy.

— Dan Wolken (@DanWolken) October 24, 2024

Amir Abdur-Rahim led Kennesaw State to the NCAA Tournament two years ago, and his team nearly pulled off the upset of No. 3 Xavier in Greensboro. I covered that site/his team and spent a good bit of time around him. He was a genuinely lovely guy and so full of life.

— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) October 24, 2024

"In a very short time, Coach Abdur-Rahim made an indelible impact on the University of South Florida," USF president Rhea Law said in a statement. "In his first season as our head coach, he brought an unmatched enthusiasm, achieved unprecedented success and helped generate unforgettable memories for Bulls Nation. Throughout my time working with Coach Abdur-Rahim, I was continually inspired by his leadership, and truly admired his sincere approach to connecting with our entire student body. His influence on our student-athletes, coaching staff and the university community will live on forever."

The University of South Florida announced that it has hired Amir Abdur-Rahim as its next men's basketball head coach.

A historic turnaround in his previous stop, @sunsetAMIR has big plans for the Bulls!#HornsUp 🤘 pic.twitter.com/iUo6wo7lzq

— USF Men's Basketball (@USFMBB) March 29, 2023

The 42-year-old just led Kennesaw State to a stunning turnaround after the team won just one game during his first season leading the program (2019-20).

The Owls went 26-9 and won the Atlantic Sun before making the Division I NCAA tournament for the first time in school history.

The No. 14-seeded Owls nearly picked off No. 3 Xavier and even led by 13 points in the second half before falling 72-67 in the first round of the tournament.

Kennesaw State moved from Division II to Division I in 2005. The Owls never posted a winning season in D-I until Abdur-Rahim led them to one this year.

Abdur-Rahim takes over the program after it parted ways with Brian Gregory after six seasons. The Bulls have posted losing seasons in each of their last four campaigns, including a 14-18 record and 7-11 mark in American Athletic Conference play last year.

Mike Brey might not be on the market for long.

The former and longtime Notre Dame men's basketball head coach is a candidate to be hired by South Florida to serve as their head coach, USF athletic director Michael Kelly confirmed to Pete Thamel of ESPN.

Just spoke to USF AD Michael Kelly. He said former Notre Dame coach Mike Brey is a candidate and has interviewed for the USF basketball job, but there’s only been discussions. There’s been no offer and nothing has been formalized.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 20, 2023

Russ Wood of Rivals previously reported Monday that Brey is expected to be hired by the school.

Brey and Notre Dame announced in January that he planed to step down from his post as the program's head coach at the end of the 2022-23 season. He later made it clear that he wasn't done coaching, however.

Big news out of Notre Dame.

Mike Brey tells me that he is not retiring.

“Definitely not done coaching.” - Brey

Great to hear from one of the best guys in the business.

— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) February 13, 2023

The Fighting Irish went just 11-21 in 2022-23 and missed the NCAA tournament for the fifth time in the past six years (though no tourney was held in the 2019-20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

Brey, 64, did lead the program to 13 tournament berths in his 23 years, finishing with a 483–280 record at the school. Under his watch, Notre Dame reached the Elite Eight in back-to-back seasons between the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.

If South Florida does bring him aboard, he'll be a major upgrade. The Bulls have had four straight losing seasons, only had one winning record under previous head coach Brian Gregory during his six-year tenure and have only posted one winning season in the past 11 seasons.

Gregory was just 79-107 during his run, and South Florida hasn't reached the NCAA tournament since the 2011-12 campaign.

Brey would bring experience and stability to a Bulls' program that hasn't had much success, and would be a major hire for the school. Notre Dame remains in limbo, meanwhile, as a successor for Brey has yet to be announced.

The University of South Florida is investigating men's basketball associate head coach Tom Herrion after allegations he made racist comments on multiple occasions, according to Collin Sherwin of DraftKings.

Head coach Brian Gregory is also under investigation for allegedly failing to discipline Herrion. 

"We are aware of troubling concerns that have been reported involving a member of our men’s basketball coaching staff," the school said in a statement, via Jeff Goodman of Stadium. "We take these matters very seriously."

Per Goodman, the school said it is conducting an independent review and Herrion has been put on administrative leave until the investigation is complete.

Herrion, who is white, has been on the USF staff since 2017 and was promoted to associate head coach in August.

He previously served as an assistant under Gregory for two years at Georgia Tech and then followed the coach to South Florida in 2017. In four years, the team has gone 57-66 with a 9-13 record in 2020-21.

The 53-year-old also spent eight total years as a Division I head coach with the College of Charleston and Marshall.

Seven South Florida players have entered the transfer portal since the end of the season, six of them Black, per Chris Torello of Spectrum Bay News 9. This includes senior David Collins, who was the only player to average double figures in scoring this past season.

The University of South Florida Bulls defeated the DePaul Blue Demons 77-65 at McGrath-Phillips Arena in Chicago on Friday night, claiming the 2019 College Basketball Invitational Championship. 

Sophomore guard David Collins led the way for USF with 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

✅ 54 points
✅ 17 assists
✅ 14 rebounds
✅ Game 1 winning shot
✅ @CBITourney MVP!#RunWithUs #HornsUp 🤘 pic.twitter.com/aNbqCm0xQg

— USF Men's Basketball (@USFMBB) April 6, 2019

DePaul was without senior guard Eli Cain, who dislocated his elbow and wrist in Game 2, but got back redshirt sophomore guard Devin Gage after he was cleared from a head injury. Gage started the game and tied Collins to lead all scorers with 19 points. 

The Bulls held a 37-20 lead at the 6:22 mark in the first half, but DePaul ripped off a 14-2 run to make it a much more manageable 39-34 at halftime. The Blue Demons kept it close for the majority of the second half, but they were unable to gain a lead before USF pulled away again—this time, for good. 

A third game was needed to decide the tournament's champion after DePaul tied the series with a 100-96 overtime victory in Game 2 on Wednesday. This is USF's first CBI championship.

Picked last in the @American_MBB. Coming home with the hardware! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/IUaOTexEOF

— USF Men's Basketball (@USFMBB) April 6, 2019

On Monday, USF head coach Brian Gregory laid out to the Tampa Bay Times' Joey Knight the long-term plan behind entering the pay-for-play CBI: 

"We talk about building this thing. And you look at the other programs that have played in this tournament and what they've done after. We're trying to follow that same path. ... The facts are, we weren't good enough or experienced enough to go to the NCAA Tournament this year, or the NIT.

"So this was our next-best option for us."

Per Knight, seven of 11 former CBI champions have won at least 20 games the following season, while three of them reached the NCAA Tournament. Most notably, VCU won the 2010 CBI, and in 2010-11, VCU made it to the Final Four. 

While aiming for next year's Final Four is aspirational, USF can be encouraged by the progress the program is making in just two seasons under Gregory. 

After the Bulls clinched the CBI title, Knight relayed that USF winning 14 more games (24-14) than last season (10-22) is the NCAA's largest win improvement in 2018-19. 

Gregory and USF will only lose three seniors, none of whom started on Friday night, making USF a potential March Cinderella in the near future. 

University of South Florida basketball players Geno Thorpe and Troy Holston Jr. were briefly stranded in Houston on Thursday night after missing the team's connecting flight home following a road loss to Tulsa.

Marcus DiNitto of the Sporting News reported Saturday the players fell asleep while waiting for the second flight of the evening. By the time they woke up and the coaching staff realized they were missing, it was too late to stop the plane from leaving the airport.

The players eventually made it back to the school after catching a separate flight to the Tampa area about three hours later, according to the Sporting News report.

Collin Sherwin of the Daily Stampede passed along a statement from Bulls interim head coach Murry Bartow, who apologized for the mistake.

"[A]s our team traveled back from Tulsa, two of our players were separated from the rest of our team when we boarded a connecting flight in Houston," he said. "This unfortunate circumstance, for which I apologize, was recognized by our staff as the plane was leaving the gate and not in time to get the players on the commercial flight."

Bartow added: "We immediately began to make arrangements to get the players on the very next flight to Tampa and were in communication with them as soon as was possible. Both players arrived safely home in Tampa later that afternoon, at approximately 4:25 p.m., where a staff member met them at the airport."

Holston's mother, Monique Holston-Greene, didn't mince words after the incident, though. She spoke out to Greg Auman and Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times after talking with the coach Friday.

"It's very disappointing, and it's a reflection of how terrible a program the men's basketball program is," Holston-Greene said.

It's been a trying year both on and off the court for South Florida.

The Bulls own a 7-20 record, including a league-worst 1-15 mark in American Athletic Conference, after starting the season 5-3. The struggles led them to fire head coach Orlando Antigua in early January.

Last July, Jeff Goodman of ESPN reported the program was being investigated by the NCAA for "possible academic fraud issues." Goodman noted assistant coach Oliver Antigua, the brother of the team's former head coach, resigned amid the probe after being barred from recruiting trips.

South Florida has two games left in the regular season. It will complete the campaign with a pair of home contests against UCF (March 2) and Temple (March 5).

The NCAA is reportedly investigating the South Florida men's basketball program for potential academic fraud, according to ESPN.com's Jeff Goodman.    

Goodman reported Wednesday that Oliver Antigua, a South Florida assistant coach and the brother of head coach Orlando Antigua, has "not been allowed to go out on the road recruiting this month."

Jeff Odom of the Tampa Bay Times reported that Oliver has resigned from his position. 

The school issued a statement about the NCAA investigation, which Goodman included in his report: "Because the University of South Florida is committed to protecting the integrity of the investigation and ensuring those involved receive fair treatment, we cannot provide any details about the investigation at this time."

Per Joey Knight of the Tampa Bay Times, the NCAA investigation "is believed to involve players on the current roster," and "other departures could follow" after Antigua's resignation. 

Knight also noted the investigation's "timing is especially bad considering USF's pursuit of membership in the Big 12" one day after the conference presidents unanimously voted for expansion on Tuesday, per Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports. 

Former USF basketball player Corey Allen Jr. had this response on Twitter to the investigation:

https://twitter.com/Corey_Allen4/status/755819680745402368

Orlando Antigua took over as head coach in 2014 after he spent five years as an assistant under John Calipari at the University of Kentucky. The Bulls have gone 17-48 in two seasons with Antigua at the helm. 

South Florida's basketball program has made three NCAA tournament appearances, most recently in 2011-12, when it lost in the third round. 

This year’s Big East Tournament kicks off on Tuesday night with a first-round matchup between the South Florida Bulls and the Seton Hall Pirates. All the action from Madison Square Garden is slated to get underway at 7 p.m. (ET) broadcast nationally on ESPNU.

South Florida stumbled its way to a No.13 seed for this tournament by virtue of posting just three straight-up victories in Big East play this season. It is 12-18 SU overall and 11-18 against the spread. The total has stayed “under” in four of its last six games.

The Pirates did not fare any better this year with a 3-15 SU record in conference play, and they ended up 14-17 SU on the year after losing 11 of their last 12 games. They went 10-13-1 ATS this season and the total went “over” in four of their last six games.

South Florida vs. Seton Hall Betting Storylines

The Bulls have been one of the worst offensive teams in the nation this year, with an average of just 59.3 points a game, while shooting a woeful 39.5 percent from the field and 31.8 percent from three-point range. Victor Rudd (12.3 points) and Toarlyn Fitzpatrick (10 points) are the only two real scoring threats on the team, but neither is shooting better than 40 percent from the floor.

The only real claim to fame for South Florida has been a defensive effort that is holding opposing teams to 62.7 points a game. This has helped to keep the team competitive against the bottom half of the conference, which clearly applies to this contest.

Seton Hall may have just one SU win in its last 12 games, but it came against Villanova on February 25 as a four-point home underdog. This is another team that has had a hard time putting points on the board this season with an average of 65.4 points a game, but it has done a better job than the Bulls shooting the ball with a 43.5 field goal percentage.

The Pirates have a legitimate scorer in Fuquan Edwin. He leads the team with 16.6 points a game, and the Pirates have two other players scoring in double-figures.

Their offensive production took a hit earlier this season when Brandon Mobley went down with a shoulder injury. They will also rely on a stiff defense to try and advance on to Wednesday’s second round against No. 5 seed Syracuse. Seton Hall has been able to hold teams to an average of 58.2 points in neutral-site games this year.

South Florida vs. Seton Hall College Basketball Betting Odds and Trends by BetOnline

Seton Hall has been opened by BetOnline as a 1.5-point favorite in this Big East Tournament opener with the “over/under” line still listed as “off”.

The Bulls are 3-7 ATS in their last 10 neutral-site games and 4-9 ATS in their last 13 conference games. The total has stayed under in 20 of their last 27 games against the Big East.

The Pirates are 1-4 ATS in their last five games against teams with a losing record and 10-25 ATS in their last 35 games played at a neutral site. The total has gone over in five of their last seven games against a team with a losing record.

Seton Hall has covered the spread in eight of the last 10 meetings in this series, a total that has stayed under in four of the last five games. These two spit the season series, with each winning SU and ATS at home, with the total staying under in both games.

College Basketball Picks: South Florida vs. Seton Hall Betting Predictions

Neither of these teams is going anywhere after Tuesday night as they will be a brisk warm up for the Orange’s quarterfinal matchup against Pitt on Thursday. However, if you are looking to play a side in this game, stick with Seton Hall to win and cover the points.

They are a slightly better all-around team and have the better track record in tournament play.

Take #570 Seton Hall (-1.5) over South Florida; Tuesday, March 12, 7 p.m.

Both the Ohio State Bobcats and South Florida Bulls are looking to prove to the world that they have what it takes to be the next Cinderella story in the 2012 NCAA tournament.

It's the battle of the two upset teams, as the No. 13 Bobcats and No.12 Bulls collide.

Ohio pulled off a shocking upset of the Michigan Wolverines, who were expected to go far this year, in a game in which they absolutely dominated their higher ranked opponent.

South Florida blew out the No. 5 seed Temple Owls in a 58-44 upset.

Both of these teams are primed to make a run, but only one of them can put on the glass slipper and advance to the Sweet 16.

Where: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, TN

When: March 16, 2012 at 10:01 p.m. ET

Watch: TNT

Listen: BullsCast package USF; 105.5 WXTQ FM, 970 WATH FM Athens, Ohio

Betting Line: Check Bovada.lv closer to game time.

Key Injuries

Ohio: No injuries to report

South Florida: No injuries to report

Injury Info via USA Today.

What's At Stake?

This game is huge, as the winner goes on to the Sweet 16 and becomes one of the Cinderella stories we all know and love. The loser, well, they go home.

What They're Saying

Brett McMurphy of CBSSports.com writes on how Ohio is planning to stay cool and keep their emotions in check, even after such a thrilling upset over Michigan.

Bob Ford on Philly.com wrote about the defensive battle and offensive struggle that was the Temple vs. USF game. The Bulls offense was horrific, but in the end their defensive focus was enough to move on.

Most Important Player to Watch

Junior guard D.J. Cooper has the ability to take this game over and win it for the Bobcats. He averaged 14.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game during the year, and notched an impressive 21 points, two rebounds and five assists against Michigan.

He's a game changer, and he's going to have to play a huge role in this game.

Key Matchup

How will USF's defense be able to slow down Cooper and the Bobcats offense? The Bulls score only 59.2 points per game compared to 70.7 from Ohio. If South Florida can slow the game down to their tempo, then I give them a good shot to win.

Prediction

Like I said, this game will depend on what the Bulls can do defensively as far as setting the tone. I believe this matchup favors Ohio, and they'll be trying on the slipper in the Sweet 16. 

Ohio 68, South Florida 60